Frozen Orange Juice Gets New Meaning In Cold Snap

January 29, 1986|By Sid Kirchheimer, Staff Writer

How cold was it? Sorry, Johnny, too cold to joke about it.

Tuesday may not have been the coldest day in 40 years, as previosuly predicted by National Weather Service officials. It didn`t even come close to the 26-degree mark of Dec. 13, 1934 -- the official coldest day in South Florida history.

But it certainly wasn`t a typical Jan. 28 in our semitropical clime. Record lows of 35 were set for the date in Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood on Tuesday morning (but the 31 degrees in West Palm Beach didn`t break the record). And more of the same is expected this morning.

That`s cold, all right. Cold enough to drink frozen orange juice straight off the tree. Cold enough to blanket a portion of Florida with snow -- and prompt concern from weather officials instead of cops.

In fact, it was soooo cold:

That it was easier than usual to lose weight: ``Your metabolism increases in weather like this because you use more energy to stay warm,`` says Carol Burke, a dietician at Northridge Hospital in Oakland Park. ``But people tend to eat more when it gets this cold, especially heavy foods. So it offsets the metabolism change.``

That your pets could have frozen to death: ``Anytime it gets around 35 degrees, you`re risking having your dog or cat freeze to death if left outside,`` says George Hulme of the Human Rescue League of the Palm Beaches. ``Even once brought inside, pets should be given a blanket to keep them warm.`` Fish owners should increase the heat in their fish tanks.

That plants should be brought inside, and flower and vegetable gardens should be watered and/or covered with blankets: ``Plants start freezing at 32, but there could be chill problems in the low 40s,`` says Peter Larson, a Broward County agriculture agent. ``And a chill problem could be just as bad as freezing.`` Watering keeps plants at a constant temperature while blankets protect them from wind.

That the beach looked -- but didn`t feel -- like a desert: ``We never close the beach unless there`s a hurricane, no matter how cold it gets,`` says John Fleet of the Fort Lauderdale Beach Patrol. ``But it`s pretty much desolate out here, a few people walking or huddled under blankets. But no one is in the water. It`s a good move, because you risk hypothermia when the water temperature drops below 68 degrees. And it`s about 66 or 67 now.``

That the typical electric bill for those who heated their homes for eight hours Tuesday will increase $1.60 next month. ``The problem isn`t the cost, it`s everyone wanting heat at the same time,`` says Florida Power & Light spokesman Dave Wolberton. ``It was so cold that at our peak usage at 7:30 Tuesday morning, we reached 12,300 megawatts and our all-time record is 12,533.`` A megawatt is a thousand kilowatts -- the hour unit for which we are billed. By comparison, Tuesday`s demand was almost twice that of a typical January day.

That the coldest place in South Florida -- the ice cream warehouse at McArthur Dairy in Lauderhill -- got even colder than usual: ``We usually set the freezer between 20 and 25 below, but when it`s cold outside like this, the weather automatically brings the temperature down a few degrees,`` says warehouse worker Bob Gagnon. Tuesday`s reading? Th-th-th-thirty below.